Alerted and awakened at 5:00 a.m. for mission to Munich Motor Works. Mission called off by red-red flare for reasons of weather. Came back home at 8:15 a.m. Had coffee again. Took off at 10:45 a.m. on a practice gunnery mission. I fired the waist gun a few rounds and then Fisher got me in the co-pilot's seat and he let me fly. No fooling. I flew for about 15 minutes. Gee, it sure is fun but strenuous. Received 6 letters and finally the packages today - long underwear, cookies, hankies, salami, writing paper, etc. What a whole bunch of stuff. Sure is dandy. Lisman boys are in France. Love ya, kiddo.

Mission #42-43 to Budapest Vecses Airdrome #1 - 9 mi. SE of Budapest in Hungary. Total time 6:20 - on oxygen 4 hours. Very pleasant and smooth trip all the way. No fighters and light flak at the target. Beautiful P-38 and P-51 escort support all over the place. Excellent bombing results. Many planes on the ground hit. Slept this afternoon. Ate up the cookies from Mom Morris. Sure were good. Lost $20.00 playing blackjack last night. Sent $200 home in money orders. Alerted again for the a.m. Good deal.

Mission #44 and 45 to Giurgiu, Rumania oil refineries and storage. Encountered heavy unchartered flak enroute and light flak over target. 30 plane fighter attack just before IP - no real danger. Three flak holes, only minor. Flew ship #70, lead in C flight. Total time 7:15 - on oxygen 4 hours. Was supposed to have been an easy mission. Completely missed our MPI - according to the pictures. Oh well. Alerted again for the morning. Two letters today - from Aunt Fay and from George Lemberger. None from Adele??? Bed about 9:15 p.m.

Mission #46 to Pitesti, Rumania large railroad bridge. First mission in years in which we had no flak and no fighters at all. Sure was a dandy mission - sure was. Total time was 7:15 hours - on oxygen 4 hours. Plane #74, still cold as hell, 20 below zero. Really hit the bridge, won't cross there for some time. Don't worry about it. No mail at all today - can't figure. Took 4 pictures on the mission. Hope they come out OK. All the boys went to work on the salami. Had meat and beans, cheese and lemonade. No chow. Plenty hungry you betcha. Feel sick.

Mission #47 to Toulon, France, submarine pens and harbor installations. Total time 8½ hours, 6 on oxygen. Long haul over water to France. Strong west wind blew smoke screen off target which was visible. No fighters. P-38 escort very comforting. Flak over target was quite heavy and accurate. We were hit 4 or 5 times. Many good hits on M.P.I. Took a whole roll of film. One letter from Adele today of June 19th. Chocolate ice cream for dessert tonite. Ship #74 - Old Cronie. Alerted again for tomorrow. Wrote home to Adele.

Mission #48 to the Casarsa railroad bridge in North Italy. Same bridge we were supposed to hit before but missed because of undercast. Don't think we did a very good job today as most bombs seemed to land between the two bridges. Easy mission. No fighters, no flak. Dandy P-38 escort. Today i was promoted to First Lieutenant. Not bad, eh? Total time 6:15, on oxygen 3 hours. Sunbathed an hour. Alerted again for tomorrow to fly lead flight B - with Lt. Paul. Hope it's a good easy double. 6 letters today,4 from my gal, 2 from home. -20°

Mission #49 to Zagreb M/Y  in Yugoslavia. Real nice mission except for the fact that we didn't drop any bombs. Weather was CAVU , target clear but no bombs dropped. Total time 6 hours, on oxygen 3½ hours. Came home at 10:45. Swell hour and had first noon chow for a long time. No mail today from anyone ??? Had a long talk with the guys today about going into pilot training when we get back. Should I go or shouldn't I - that is the question. Alerted again for tomorrow. Some fun I'll say.

Mission #50 and 51 - finito to Markersdorf Airdrome, 35 miles west of Vienna, Austria. Finally finished up today with even one to boot. Real easy mission. Very light flak, no fighters, plus excellent fighter support. Total time 7½ hours - on oxygen about 3½ hours. Many good hits on the target. City of Vienna really took a pasting. 3 letters from Adele today - jackpot. Vanilla ice cream for supper. What a relief. Gee, I sure feel relieved. Big party tonite at the club. Maybe. Sure is a wonderful feeling no alert for the a.m.

Awakened at 3:00 a.m. by CQ  calling for Boles - then at 6:00 by Fisher going to breakfast. What an eager guy. So I got up at 7:00 and ate. Nothing much all day long. In the evening I was officer of the day. My 6 boys were plane guards. So I stayed up all night in the operations office, occasionally taking coffee and pies and sandwiches out to the guys on the trucks. Typed a letter to Adele. Very tired. Let all the boys drive my jeep around - more fun. No sleep all night. Quite tired, I'll say.

Got off OD  at 8:00 a.m. Ate breakfast, came back and went to sleep. Slept right through noon chow, awakening at about 3:00 p.m. Ate supper, laid down again. Came to club and wrote letter to Adele and Aunt Fay. No mail again today. 3-4 days. Can't figure it out ??? Ate 2 hard boiled eggs. USO show but me no go. Gee, I was tired after being up all night. What a punk deal that OD is. C.E. has it tonite - poor guy. Nothing much doing at night. Thought I lost Pop's pearl handle knife.

Ate breakfast today, then got a nice shave by the barber. Also picked up my finished laundry. In the afternoon Taylor, Ish and I took off for Lecce - 30 miles away. In the town we walked our feet off, with nothing much to do. At the Red Cross Club we had 2 large dishes of chocolate ice cream. Very very good. Bought several pieces of jewelry. Drank 1 glass of champagne. Looked at some real pretty gals, but that's all. Found 3 guys from Aliquippa in the register. Home about 10:30. Tired, powerful tired. No mail 3rd day.

Ate breakfast today, Span 'n Eggs. That damn Span keeps coming up on me. Took shower this morning, put away laundry, folded up pajamas. Feel sharp. Fisher pulled guard last nite. Bought $2.00 of air mail stamps. Stayed at the club most of the afternoon. Found new book, "Mutiny on the Bounty," and started reading it for the steenth time. Wrote to Adele, Mom and to the Lisman boys. Got writers's cramps. Went to the movies in the evening but no one could find the film so picture show cancelled. No mail again today. Started raining like hell tonite.

Had tough pancakes for breakfast. Almost drowned by rain in and outside the mess tent. Shaved by the I-Tye. At 9:00 a.m. our crew had its picture taken, both individually and as a group, all except Boles. In front of #74, "Old Cronie," because all the ships with pretty gals were on the mission. Helped interrogate the crews today. Acted like a big shot asking involved questions. 1 V-mail from Evie is all the mail today. Pretty poor. Something wrong. Drew $43.75 per diem this afternoon. No show this evening, no film. Hung around club and read "M on the B." Heard Bob Hope.

Up early, ate breakfast. Reading my book in the club. Took a ride with Lt. Ottone to the ice plant at Campi about 20 miles away. Very enjoyable ride into the nearby countryside. 4 hunks of ice for 3 packs of Raleighs. Longed around and read in the afternoon. Finally got some mail - 4 letters from Adele. Oh happy day. I wanted to see "True to Life" at the show but was put on OD again so no go. Rode Fisher around in jeep. Wrote to Adele, Mom and Eli. Beautiful music on radio. Not much else. So long.

Wrote to Eli Miller, Uncle Jack and finally Ezra Sarachan tonite while on OD - poor Ez. Still reading "M on the B." Ok book. Got off the OD at 0430 and went right to bed until 11:00 a.m. Washed, shaved by the I-Tye and ate lunch. Got a very nice letter from Adele today, written June 25. Nothing much this afternoon. Picked up our group picture of July 13th. Movie tonite, "True to Life." Powell, Martin, Tone, Moore. Real dandy comedy, ha ha. "How about you luscious?" Getting tired. I think I'll go to bed early, quite tired tonite. It is now 9:40 p.m. No mission tomorrow. Party at club.

Ate breakfast. Censored several letters in the a.m. Read my book for quite a while in the club. Ate chow, had my haircut, sunbathed for two hours this afternoon. Wish those enlisted men would get out of this place before they start revisiting the old rules and make it hard for us in certain ways. Nice letter from Honey today - on July 4th. Cleaned up a tent and moved Taylor's bed in corner. Oh, is he mad!! Wrote a longie to Adele - my lover. Nothing new. Going to bed. 2 eggs and juice.

Slept until 10:30, got up and shaved myself. Only 5 cuts. Washed up, all clean and spiffy. Ate dinner. We had round steak (wieners), corn, beans, and chocolate pudding - good meal. Expect to go to town this afternoon - maybe. Went to Lecce with Fisher and Ottone and had large dish of chocolate ice cream. Came back early and sunbathed for about an hour. Drove the Colonel's jeep into San Donachi with Elio to take in laundry. In the evening Fish and I and Ottone and guys saw Don O'Connor in "Chip Off the Old Block." Real good show, and March of Time. Rubber heels on shoes, 70¢ + cigar.

Awoke early, ate 2 eggs, censored 3 letters, took shower - all this morning and now it's only 10:25. Came back and ate chow. Laid around in the sun for about 3 hours this afternoon. Really getting brown or red - really getting something. Fell asleep, woke up wet. At night we had a big party in the EM  tent - beer, whisky, cokes, water, vino, wine, champagne, grapefruit juice, hard boiled eggs and fig newtons. Sang songs, told dirty jokes. Had a heck of a good time. Shorty led Fish and I home. Sick during night. Slept with pants and shoes on. Oh.

Had just coffee for breakfast. Still plenty woozy. Went riding just about all day. Went with Ottone and Fisher for ice to Campi and in the afternoon we went to the PX at Manduria where we bought our weekly rations. Got shot in the arm today for Tetanus and Typhoid. Sore. Letter from Adele, real honey, with 6 pictures - excellent. Listened to Bob Hope. Put on clean pants. Saw Van Johnson in "Two Girls and a Sailor." Real excellent show. Have lived through the effects of last night. Forgot to buy some pajamas at the PX. Much tired. Retire at 10:15 p.m.

Tried all morning to get transportation to Bari - Ottone, Wagner and I had tickets to see Irving Berlin's stage show, "This Is The Army," but all to no avail so no go. Wrote to Davids and Kodak and Mom this afternoon. Sunbathed about 1½ hours in front of the tent. Can't get red or brown on my legs ??? Got 5 letters today, all from England. Nothing much rest of night. Wrote a letter to Adele at the club and then got intoa card game - and lost about $30.00, all because of Sudin's forgetting to bury a card on 3 different occassions. Oh well, such is life.

Ran around all morning and finally got a ticket for the Army show. Shaved by the I-Tye and took off in a GI truck at 10:30, arriving in Bari at 1:15. Saw shows; excellent beyond all description. Sat in box seats, excellent visibility. Most ornate theater I ever saw. Irving Berlin in person. Went backstage and got Belin's autograph, also Julie Oshin's. Real good show. Came a long way but finally saw it. Had 2 servings of ice cream at Officers' Red Cross. Rode in horse-drawn carriage. Letter from Jerome. He's in Sardinia. 3 other letters. Home at 10:30. Much tired, much happy.

Surprised myself - got up early and ate breakfast. Came back and slept half-heartedly on my bunk. Ate a punk chow. In the afternoon I wanted to sunbathe but up comes a big sand and dust storm which really blew things around. Everything was covered with thick dust. Hung around club and wrote to Jerome and Adele. In the evening I went to the show and saw John Garfield, Cary Grant, Alan Hale in "Destination Tokyo." Very thrilling sub story. Sleep at 10:30. Feh, such dust. 2 letters from Adele.

Ate breakfast this a.m. Eggs are now free from the Q.M. Censored mail a while. Went down, took a shower and shaved. Filled up our two large water cans. Ate a punk dinner - 4 wieners and beans. Came back to club to write a few letters. Here I am. Wrote to Mom. Ate a punk dinner. Sunbathed for quite a while today. Really getting baked, but that's the way I like it. Got 4 lovely letters from Adele and one from Mom today. Swerll letters too. Ate a worse supper tonite. Went to see G.I. movies but no show - so no go. Took in laundry. Plenty hot today.

2 eggs "girate"  for breakfast and then censored quite a bit of mail. Turned in all my watches and pistol. Starting to get cleared. Our orders are finally starting through. Fisher is going to the 47th Wing HQ at Manduria. So. Fried eggplant for dinner, not bad. Sunbathed for several hours this afternoon after writing a long letter to Adele about the financial status of us'uns. Rode to Manduria with Fish and Ottone to pick up our orders. Saw tonight's movie. Bought scout knife from Ottone for $1.00. Wrote to Adele, Aunt Rose, Lenny, Lismans. Actually watched a blackjack game.

Fisher took off for Bari with our orders. Ate breakfast and censored mail this morning for a while. Ate round steak for chow. Meeting at 2:30 this afternoon about how we are supposed to act when we get back in the States. Just like we're a bunch of new-born babies. No sunbathing this afternoon. No mail again today ??? Tried to shoot a rat tonite but no go. Started reading a new book entitled, "BIBLE." Very good. Laid outside after dark tonite. Quite cool and invigorating. Kinda anxious for Fish to get to find out what's what. Retire at 9:30 or so.

Up and at 'em, two eggs "girate." Censored mail. Came back and laid out in sun for a while reading the Bible. Fisher came back late tonite with our orders, which means we should leave in just a few days. I sure do hope so. Had ice cream for chow again tonite. Sunbathed again this afternoon. Just red, that's all. Played casino with Ottone and Wagner, then went to 8:30 show. Saw "Two Senoritas from Chicago." Real punkeroo, but plenty of women. Letter from Mom today saying she got my letter of the 8th. Makes me very happy. Also letter from Honey Chile. Nite toots.

Ate breakfast. Hung around all morning just doing nothing. Ate chow and took ride with Wagner in the afternoon. Saw B-24 (#53) which cracked up taking off this morning. Really a bad mess - 3 guys killed. Horrible sight. I'm glad I'm through or I would be now. Visited guys in hospital. Saw there a Lt. Mike Herlya - old roommate of mine from Hondo Nav. School. He was hit in left hand on 6th mission by flak. He is now a bombadier. No mission tomorrow. Shindig tonight. Bars open till breakfast. 5 letters from Adele today - real oldies. To bed early. 10:00.

Ate breakfast and censored mail. Ate chow. Shaved myself and then Fish and I took off for Lecce. First rode with Lt. Col. Fellows, Group C.O. but he forgot his beer and turned back. Ate 2 big bowls of gelato at Red Cross and 4 hunks of super cake with chocolate icing, just like Mother used to make (almost). Got picked up outside Red Cross by our squadron jeep - very lucky. Tonite we saw "See Here, Private Hargrove." Very entertaining picture. Donna Redd sure is eager. Letter today from good old Houghton. He's around here somewhere. No letters from Adele. Tsk. Nite toots.

Breakfast of pancakes, then censored mail and wrote a long letter to the folks. And here I am in the club at 10:26 a.m. Quiet day. Wrote to Houghton too. Ate chow, then sunbathed for a couple hours. My stomach is now real red. No mail today from no one no how. Tsk, tsk. Had good chow tonite - real fresh meat, spanish rice, and real pineapple ice cream and gingerbread cake. Saw "Private Hargrove" again. Crazy. I wish that old Doc Wagner would keep that nurse out of this club. Gotta write to my honey now. Ho hum. All cleaned up. Love ya babe.

Ate pancakes again for breakfast, then censored mail. Fish and I went down to the sheet metal shop and cut out the Nazi swastikas from the tail assembly and we each took one for souveneirs. Down there they were putting a new engine on good Old Crone #74. The girl on the side is all painted up now. Finally receieved a letter from Adele acknowledging my one of July 8th. What a relief. Also a lovely congratulatory card. Cute too. Slept all afternoon. Wrote to Adele. My honey. Had 2 real hot dogs (fat ones) for chow tonite. Going to G.I. movies tonite. Good show - betcha. Mmmmm.

Pancakes again, my goodness. Censored mail again. Fish and I had to fly up to Bari. If it were tomorrow I would have gone. Shaved myself this morning. Gotta get me a new book to keep my daily accounts in. Today is our last day here (it says here). Got final papers signed today. Packed everything in my A-3 bag, then found out that we couldn't take A-3 bags so repacked everything in a barracks bag and boy, was it hot today. Where did I ever get so much stuff? Letter from Adele dated July 25. Gotta get home now!!!!!! Meeting with Col. Beir tonite at 6:45.